Marseilles, France

I started my travels in the Edinburgh airport on Friday, June 13.  After a last minute packing scramble, I got to the airport and realized my bag was far over the weight limit for carry-ons for Ryan Air (each person is allotted 1 carry-on bag weighing no more than 10 kg or they will be denied boarding ).  My solution to this little complication was to open up my bag while standing in line to check-in and start layering my clothing!  By the time I got to the front of the line, I was wearing two sweatshirts, two dresses, two t-shirts and stuffed in my pockets were my camera and the heaviest of all the books I brought with me.  I am sure I looked like an absolute goon.  The airline staffer just handed me my boarding pass and winked.

After dodging that bullet, I arrived in Marseilles that evening without further incident.  My plane was early so I was able to catch the last airport shuttle to the city center for a cool €8, instead of a €40 taxi ride.  I found my hostel within minutes and from its balcony was greeted with this welcome wagon:

My hostel was beyond nice.  Not only was it spotless and clean, but it had this wonderful lived-in quality that gave it character.  I really loved the terrace in the back, a cool shaded common area where guests would gather throughout the day to eat and meet fellow travellers.  I met in my first few days travellers from China, Australia, Czech Republic, Canada and Ireland.

After a nice slumber, I awoke early Saturday morning, laced up my walking shoes, and hit the Marseillian pavement.  My first destination was, of course, the Vieux Port.  I picked up some breakfast from a cafe on my down to the port and watched the fisherman sell their fresh morning catches:

Soon after I decided to go visit Notre Dame de la Garde, the basilica that looms over the city of Marseilles and offers stunning panoramic views of the city.  Of course, all beauty comes with a price – it was not an easy walk!  La Garde (the hill) is almost at a 100% incline.  But the view more than made up for it:

I lingered up there for an immeasurable amount of time, reading The Count of Monte Cristo and eating a baguette with Brie cheese (when in France…!).  From La Garde, I could see Chateau d’If, a prison on a small island off the coast of Marseilles and setting for The Count , so it seemed like an appropriate time to pick up the book!

On my second day in Marseilles, I once again had breakfast down at the port and then decided to go explore some of the arrondissements up north.  After some anticlimatic wandering, I ended up in Cours Julien, somewhat of a Bohemian plaza.  While giving my feet a much needed rest, I see out of the corner of my eye about 30-40 people arrive, all wearing white and carrying these large drums.  To my surprise, they formed a circle right in front of where I was sitting and started a West African drum circle!  For the next two hours I, and the other plaza patrons, were treated to a free performance of energetic music. 

After they packed up their drums and the plaza emptied, I took the Metro further upfield to visit the Palais de Longchamp, a picturesque fountain and reserve built in the 1800s following a  great drought in the city.  It was one of the most grandiose structure I have ever seen; it simply had presence.

Surrounding the Palais Longchamp was many statues and pillars.  In the picture below on the left in the distance is, once again, the Notre Dame de la Garde.  The picture below on the right was just sheer good luck on this photographer’s part: I went to take a picture of the cougar statue and suddenly this bird flies up from out of nowhere into the sun.  Snap!

On my final day I visited what ultimately became one of my favorite places in Marseilles.  In the Le Panier district sits this grand Romano-Byzantine cathedral, the Cathedrale de la Major (also known as Old Major).  It was modelled off of the Saint Sophia Church in Istanbul.  The interior of Old Major is covered in marble and mosiac and it also houses several tombs of the Bishops of Marseilles.

Overall, I had a great time in Marseilles.  It was very hot – I think it averaged around 90 degrees every day – but luckily I had the Mediterranean breeze to cool me down.  Marseilles is less of a tourist town than some of its sister cities in France, but I was quite content to fill my days with walking around at a casual pace and lingering in parks and cafes well after my tea was finished.  I really enjoyed the aesthetics of France-meets-North Africa architecture – hopefully as you witnessed in my pictures, it was really beautiful.

It was a little difficult to be in Marseilles and not speak French, however.  I was reassured when I planned this trip that everyone in Western Europe speaks English and I would have no trouble at all.  However, I found in Marseilles that the locals were a bit reluctant to speak English and that many of its so-called immigrant citizens did not know English.  I thought, however, the people overall were terribly friendly and always patient enough to try to understand my hand gestures and broken French when I asked for directions or tried to explain I was from the United States.  It was an interesting, and yes, at times frustrating, lesson in cross-cultural communication.  I did leave France with an entirely new appreciation for students who study abroad through direct enrollment in a country where English is not the primary language.

I left Marseilles early on Monday morning to the airport to catch my flight to Madrid, wearing once again several layers of clothing.  Stay tuned.  My Madrid story follows shortly.